New England Patriots' WR Kenbrell Thompkins Could Be In Line For Monster NFL Debut

Perhaps the most intriguing player to watch on the offense besides Tom Brady will be WR Kenbrell Thompkins. Due to the wrist injury that Bills CB Stephon Gilmore suffered and had surgery to repair recently, he will miss the opener against the Patriots. For this reason, CB Leodis Mckelvin, the Bills’ next best corner, will likely be assigned to cover Danny Amendola.

This should give Thompkins quite a bit of room to operate, going up against largely mediocre cornerbacks. In the running for the opportunity to cover him are cornerbacks Justin Rogers, Crezdon Butler, and T.J. Heath among others.

Bills’ head coach Doug Marrone has said that the job will not go to one specific corner, but instead they will probably rotate as a platoon. In other words, they will all have an opportunity to show what they can do, but he is likely to ride the hot hand.

Given how Thompkins has performed this preseason, the fact that he and Brady seem to be on the same page, and him having the opportunity to go up against a bevy of mediocre defensive backs all point to him having a great NFL debut.

Expect Brady to target him frequently in the opener, and for him to possibly beat the Bills’ secondary deep a few times just like he did against the Detroit Lions in the third week of the preseason. At the very least, he looks like a diamond in the rough that is worth watching on Sunday afternoon.